Saturday, 30 June 2018

Brexit Preparedness

European Union member states should prepare their airports and aviation sector for a no-deal Brexit, the European Commission reportedly told diplomats earlier in June.

The warning was made during a June 12 meeting chaired by Filip Cornelis, the director of aviation at the Commission's transport department, Politico reported. It was attended by diplomats from the EU27 countries as well as representatives from their civil aviation authorities.

The European Union has published 66 Notices to Stakeholders. Amongst these is one on Aviation Safety published on 13th April 2018. I quote part of it because it is so comprehensive:

CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY THE COMPETENT AUTHORITIES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Certificates issued before the withdrawal date by the competent authorities of the United Kingdom on the basis of the provisions of the Basic Regulation and its implementing rules will no longer be valid as of the withdrawal date in the EU. This concerns in particular:

Certificates of airworthiness, restricted certificates of airworthiness, permits to fly, approvals of organisations responsible for the maintenance of products, parts and appliances, approvals for organisations responsible for the manufacture of products, parts and appliances, approvals for maintenance training organisations, and certificates for personnel responsible for the release of a product, part or appliance after maintenance, issued pursuant to Article 5 of the Basic Regulation;

Certificates for air operators and attestations for the cabin crew, issued pursuant to Article 8 of the Basic Regulation;

Certificates for aerodromes, certificates for ATM/ANS providers, licences and medical certificates for air traffic controllers, certificates for air traffic controller training organisations, certificates for aero medical centres and aero medical examiners responsible for air traffic controllers, certificates for persons responsible for providing practical training or assessing the skills of air traffic controllers, issued pursuant to Articles 8a, 8b and 8c of the Basic Regulation.

If certificates issued by competent UK authorities are no longer valid then no UK authorised pilot will be able to fly after Brexit until their licence is recognised in some other international forum. Permits to fly will be invalid.If London Heathrow or Edinburgh or Cardiff loses its aerodrome certificate then I am sure their insurers will withdraw any insurance and thus not only will nothing take off, nothing will land either. No air carrier will risk landing on an uninsured aerodrome.This is massive. It is also entirely the fault of Mrs Theresa May MP, the Conservative MP for Maidenhead, the Leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister. I am convinced that she is still advised and takes counsel from her former SpAd, Nick 'Rasputin' Timothy. He has persuaded Mrs May that the EEA equals EFTA. It doesn't. The EEA (European Economic Area) is a huge geographical area from Iceland to Greece and Portugal to Poland of which the European Union is part. In the EEA/EFTA, the United Kingdom would be out of the Common Agricultural Policy, Common Fisheries Policy, Customs Union, Common Trade Area, Common Foreign & Security Policy, Justice and Home Affairs, Taxation and Economic and Monetary Union. The UK would not be subject to the European Court of Justice (EFTA Court instead) or the Commission (EEA Joint Committee).Unfortunately, the 'Tsarina' Mrs May is deaf to all persuasion and still seems to think that 'Rasputin' is right. He isn't. If the dangers that Mr Cornelis point out come to pass

It would immediately ground flights between the UK and EU because EU-issued aviation licenses would no longer be valid.

It really cannot be put more plainly. This is happening not because of the European Union's intransigence but because of catastrophic strategic decisions being made by Mrs May. The UK Government is doing this to itself.Don't book a flight out of the UK for Easter 2019. It may well not fly.

1 comment:

Your last point is, I think correct. Mrs May was demanding to leave all EU regulation behind in her Lancaster House speech of January 2017. " to make our own laws" although I doubt whether she realised that this would be one of the effects. It is entirely self-inflicted. At the time, it was rumoured that she took advice only from her SpAd, Nick Timothy. At the same time, the enormously experienced UK Representative to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers, resigned leaving instructions to his colleagues that they should speak truth to government, even ( and especially) when that truth was unwelcome. Somehow it seems not to have got through.